The present invention relates generally to toy throwing balls. More particularly, it is directed to a toy throwing ball with a main ball-shaped body trailed by a non-spinning tail, where the ball-shaped body rotates in flight relative to the tail, increasing flight stability and reducing drag.
Throughout the prior art, fins have been used on various kinds of flying toys to increase flight stability, accuracy, and distance. These fins typically extend outwardly from the toy, spaced-apart around a longitudinal axis. Often the fins are mounted on a shaft extending rearwardly from the toy. Flying toys as diverse as a golf ball (U.S. Pat. No. 2,432,209), a toy rocket (U.S. Pat. No. 2,759,297), a blow dart (U.S. Pat. No. 3,190,654), a toy javelin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,041), and a suction cup dart (U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,017) have been designed with fins.
The prior art also reflects endeavors to improve upon the flying performance of a football by adding a tail, with or without fins, to help the football fly straight. A normal football has an inherent instability, caused by the center of pressure's being forward of the center of gravity, giving the football a natural tendency, when thrown along a flight path, to tumble end over end. This natural tendency has been countered in the past by two methods. One is spiraling the football, which is imparting a spin or rotation about the football's longitudinal axis as the football is thrown. The spin provides a gyroscopic effect that tends to keep the nose of the football pointed in a constant direction. However, the spin is often insufficient to overcome the football's inherent instability completely and the football rocks during flight about a pitch and a yaw axis. Such rocking can also be described as a circular movement of the football's nose about the flight path. The rocking increases the effective frontal cross-section of the football, thus increasing drag and shortening the flight's length.
The other method for improving the football's stability is to add a tail, especially one with fins. The addition of the tail moves both the center of pressure and the center of gravity of the combined football-and-tail rearward as compared to the football alone. However, the greater surface area-to-weight ratio of the finned tail, as compared to the football, moves the center of pressure farther rearward, ideally to a position aft of the center of gravity which provides inherent stability. However, known tail configurations can actually degrade flight quality by increasing drag unnecessarily and resisting spin.
Various attempts have been made to increase and improve upon football stability through diverse tail-end fin configurations, some of which also attempt to allow for spin. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,488 discloses a football with four fins, where one fin is angularly displaced to increase rotation. However, as pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,514, the three straight-ahead fins of the four-finned football of the '488 patent counter the effect of the angularly-displaced fin so that the four-finned football spins less than an unaltered football. U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,514 also discloses a finned football having two angled, curved fins configured to cause spin.
Although curving, angled fins extending beyond the body of the ball may increase spin, they come with disadvantages. Because the fins are curved and angled relative to the desired flight path, the fins resist air flow moving over the ball. Indeed, it is this very resistance which imparts the spin to the ball. But, the resistance also decreases the forward velocity of the ball. Furthermore, the fins are necessarily configured to increase spinning only in one direction while opposing spinning in the opposite direction. Thus, each ball with the curving, angled fins can be properly thrown only by a left-handed person, or only by a right-handed person, depending on which direction the fins are oriented. Additionally, the spinning fins are believed to create a zone of turbulence which trails the ball, further acting as a resistive force. The combination of fin resistance and turbulence trailing the ball work together to sap the ball's forward velocity, thereby decreasing flight potential.
To overcome the drawbacks and limitations associated with existing techniques for providing stable and extended toy ball flight, it is an object of the present invention to provide a toy ball with a non-spinning tail, where the ball rotates in flight relative to the tail, thus enabling both advantages of spin-assisted stability and tail-assisted stability.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a toy ball with a non-spinning tail that allows the thrower to spiral the ball easily and naturally.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a toy ball with a non-spinning tail, where the ball spirals without the resistance and turbulence created by spinning fins.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a toy ball with a non-spinning tail that utilizes the stabilizing and gliding advantages of non-spinning fins.
One more object of the present invention is to provide a toy ball with a non-spinning tail that combines the flight accuracy and stability advantages resulting from spiraling with the flight stability and gliding advantages provided by tail fins.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a toy ball with a non-spinning tail which is made from a soft, foamed plastic material, making the toy safe and suitable for younger children.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacture of a toy ball with a non-spinning tail which allows the toy to be produced inexpensively and to be assembled easily.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the accompanying drawings and the following description of the preferred embodiment.